While many characters in the series are commonly referred to as mercenaries (the Greil Mercenaries being one such example), they are not necessarily of the Mercenary class; they are merely referred to as such due to the sellsword nature of the services that they render to the various games' protagonists.

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In their original inception in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, the Mercenary class is the primary Sword-wielding foot unit class and promotes into the Hero class when the necessary requirements are made.

In Archanea Saga, Malice acts as the first female character to assume the Mercenary class in the series. During the period preceding her entrance to the series, all Mercenaries have been predominantly male.

In TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, the class takes on two distinct forms: The playable Fighter (せんし Senshi) and the enemy-exclusive Mercenary (ようへい Youhei) classes. Statistically, the Fighter class is identical to the original Mercenary class, but has slightly higher stat bases. Unlike in the preceding Fire Emblem titles, Sword Fighter is presented as an entirely separate class.

The class makes its official return to the series in The Binding Blade, where, like in TearRing Saga and Berwick Saga, it is split from the Sword Fighter/Myrmidon class and coexists with it. From this point onward in the series, Mercenaries strictly promote directly into Heroes, while Myrmidons promote into Swordmasters.

In The Sacred Stones, Mercenaries are further given the option to promote into the mounted Ranger class alongside the Hero class.

In TearRing Saga: Berwick Saga, the Mercenary class is again presented as a class entirely separate from the Sword Fighter. The sole playable Mercenary is Kramer, who promotes into Bastard when he meets the requirements. A variant known as the Rogue Guard (ローグガード rōgugādo) appears among bandit groups; it differentiates itself by having the Blade skill as a class skill.

Mercenaries tend to possess balanced stats, replete with high HP, Strength and Skill, alongside decent Speed and Defense. When compared to the Myrmidon class, a class that similarly wields swords exclusively, Mercenaries are generally better in terms of HP, Strength, Skill and Defense, although their counterparts are usually superior in the Speed department.

Mercenaries are versatile in both offense and defense. In most cases, mercenaries are capable of dealing good damage while being durable enough to sustain quite a number of attacks. The only problem that Mercenaries potentially face is their average Movement, which may prove detrimental to their survival in situations where they are completely overwhelmed by enemies. However, high-level Mercenaries can dispatch hordes of axe-users with ease, and can even stand a chance of avoiding lance and sword attacks. They will more often than not strike their target with precision, and score a few Critical Hits due to their high Skill.

In Awakening, Mercenaries learn Armsthrift, one of the most useful skills available in the game. Because this skill can reduce or completely negate weapon durability loss, it is thus highly sought-after by players seeking to maximise the potential of their characters.

In Fates, weapon durability is no longer present, and mercenaries instead gain Good Fortune and Strong Riposte, which further increase their durability and ability to defend themselves, respectively.

Across all games, the Mercenary class's uniforms have consistently comprised of simple clothing and light-to-medium armour that varies between games. Not much of the class's outfit can be seen in earlier titles, but according to the TCG depictions, generic Mercenaries wear light breastplates, a helmet, shin-guards and wrist braces. In TearRing Saga: Utna Heroes Saga, Fighters and Mercenaries are featured wearing basic clothing with a leather vest and a belt containing the sheath of their sword. In Awakening and Fates, the uniforms of Mercenaries are very similar to the ones from TearRing Saga, but are different in terms of the heater shields that are strapped to their left biceps like rerebraces, in addition to the light leather vest and gloves that they don, with the difference being that Mercenaries from Fates are shown with a heavier leather jacket and a more military-styled uniform than in Awakening. Enemy portraits of Mercenaries in both games show them wearing a head-guard covering the forehead and sides of the face, with Fates's Mercenaries wearing head-guards that appear almost completely metallic in design. Echoes sees another redesign for the Mercenary class, showcasing the same head-brace from Awakening and Fates but with a far more simplistic appearance; these Mercenaries wear "wanderer"-esque uniforms with considerably less armor on them than prior (only wearing a single breastplate and pauldrons made of cloth/leather with some creature's jawbones attached to each one) and a tattered cloak draped over them.